Cracking Shells and Parallel Orbits
by WatsonLover
Summary: Reyna's the powerful Roman praetor that's tough on the outside and, well- not many people know how she is on the inside. Nico's the ambassodor of Pluto that may seem mysterious at times, and always holds some kind of grudge. So one day, Nico is going through is usual routine and finds someone he just can't decipher. Could it be true that some people bring out the best in others?
1. First Sight

I look over to where Leo stands and immediately burst out laughing. My eyes skim over his falsely confident facial expression and shifting feet. Thalia watches him incredulously as he attempts to flirt with her for the thousandth time. Leo opens his mouth and unleashes another set of words- undoubtedly trying one of his pick-up lines.

Right now I'm sitting in the Roman camp's dining hall, sitting solo at the Pluto table. I have my shades on to disguise the fact that I'm spying on Leo's tries to woo Thalia. It's rather sad, really. A son of Hades spying on a potential couple, the activity seems fit for a child of Aphrodite. But there's something about love that makes me feel warm inside, even though it sound sappy and unfitting and maybe even creepy.

I shift my focus back to the lovebirds. Leo must have set her off, because she's walking away looking irritated. I feel a stab of sadness as I see intense pain and failure quickly flits across Leo's face and stay for a moment. The stab leaves after I see him grin widely and make a mental note for the next time he converses with her.

I let the rest of my laughter out, resting my head in my hands. My laughter dies down and now I'm just obscuring my large grin with my hands. I reluctantly let go of my head once a fraction of my laughter is devoid, and I randomly look up at a spot across the room. Right when I look to that spot, I meet someone else's gaze.

My face relaxes into an expression that probably looks fazed and taken aback, remnants from the previous hilarity and newfound curiosity. The face of the stranger is mirroring my expression. I take in as much of her as I can with breaking eye contact.

She has black hair that sits in waves past her shoulders. Her thin, dark eyebrows leave her an air of dignity, possibly due to the praetor attire she's wearing. The mystery girl's eyes are a shade of brown that look shockingly similar to my own. Her skin's ever so slightly tanned, perfectly accommodating her other features. I'll admit, even though it may be the Aphrodite side of me, that she's the best looking girl I've ever seen.

My mouth is slightly parted without my knowledge due to my concentration and I quickly shut it once I've reeled back to reality. She sees the shift in my expression and composes herself, but we're still keeping hold of each other's eyes.

Her gaze shifts to a spot over my shoulder and I also tear my gaze away, looking for clues to find out who this girl is. I look at her table; she's sitting alone, like I am, at the table for children of Bellona. A girl with brains. And I notice there are two gold and silver dogs staring at her protectively, never wavering their locked attention. There are other kids of Bellona at the table, but for some reason they're sitting at least a few feet away from her. And those that are closest to her have slight fear in their eyes.

I take off my shades and clip them to the inside of the collar of my jacket, revealing my eyes, and do the most daring thing I've ever done. I conspicuously walk over to her table and take a seat across from her. Dozens of eyes are focused on me, looking at me like I had just decided to challenge Percy to a fight underwater. It's not the look in their eyes that intrigues me, it's the fact that _she's_ wearing it too.

"I'm Nico," I say lamely, considering that it's the first thing that comes to my mind.

Her façade changes, morphing into a reserved one, "Reyna."

"Are you the praetor around here?" I ask, gesturing to her clothes. I mentally face palm myself, of course she! Otherwise she wouldn't be wearing that clothing.

She nods emotionlessly, "Why'd you come over here?"

"Right to the point, aren't you? I thought you looked lonely and could use some company…"

"You're not from here, are you?" Reyna asks with a _miniscule_ spark of curiosity.

I shake my head, "I came here from Camp Half-Blood."

She nods but her face stays unreadable.

"You'd be really great at poker," I blurt out, mentally cursing my stupidity _again_.

For a second, I'm contemplating about taking that statement back. I open my mouth but her laughter interrupts me. Not full on laughter, but a light laugh is all I need.

Now everyone's eyes are focused on the two of us, their faces a mixture of complete surprise and utter confusion. They almost look horrified.

"I take that back," I share, cracking a smile.

She smiles ever so slightly, recovering from her laughter. More miffed expressions are received from our close-by neighbors.

Her eyes quickly shift to the large extravagant clock on the wall and her face is, once again, devoid of emotion. "I have somewhere to go," she admits, standing up and glancing at me.

I hide the disappointment, "It was nice meeting you."

"I have to say the same for you, too," she says cautiously, looking like she's picking her words carefully. She starts walking away and I stare intently at the back of her head thinking.

I'm definitely going to make sure we meet again, soon.


	2. Sword Fighting

Chapter 2: Sword Fighting

**Hey, guys! MORE REYNICO ! YAY! As a side note; Nico and Reyna are both 15 (Almost 16) in this story. And there will be future Thalia + Leo romance. I LOVE THEM TOGETHER ! *Heart***

**Leave suggestions, please! And ENJOY :D !**

**AND REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW, REVIEW, and REVIEW! I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF 'EM.**

Nico POV;

"Nico!" I hear Percy yell from behind me. I turn my head to see him running towards me.

He lets out a tired breath, "Glad I found you."

As a response, I nod my head.

He quickly switches the subject, "I heard a rumor about you talking to Reyna yesterday at the Great Hall."

I try to remain calm and not smile from remembrance, "Yeah, we did have a quick conversation."

Percy's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, he carefully examined me. "And you're not hurt? No broken limbs or internal organs punctured?" He grabs my arms and cautiously turns them over.

I slightly smirk as I shake my head and retract my arm from his grip, "Nope."

His surprised expression is replaced by a smug one while he whistles, "Reyna and Nico. I like the sound of that."

Icontain my rueful smirk, "Percy, seriously? It's not like that."

Percy guffaws, "It will be soon."

This is the point where I get exasperated, "Percy, seriously. I'm not-"

He holds up his hands in surrender, "Sure, sure. I've gotta go meet Annabeth, Loverboy." He claps me on the shoulder before taking off in a sprint. I sigh in contentment. Percy may be one of my best friends, but he has no idea when to stop talking.

I continue walking to my original destination, the arena. I haven't practiced sword fighting all week, and I should probably brush up on my skills. Not that I need to, most of the time summoning 500 dead soldiers will suffice.

I'm more than halfway there when I'm interrupted with another presence, yet again. I turn my head to find their identity. Leo's wide grin steps into my vision.

"I saw you flirting with Reyna yesterday."

I groan in exasperation.

He takes my groan the wrong way, "Whoa there, Nico! Control those dirty thoughts in your head!"

I glare at him, "I wasn't thinking about that. Besides, I wasn't flirting with her yesterday. We were just talking."

"Exactly! And she didn't murder you! That's the highest level of love you can receive from Reyna," Leo says, looking at me in disbelief.

"That's ironic coming from you, Mr. Love Doctor. Didn't Thalia reject you yesterday? And the day before? And the one before that…"

"'Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in,'" he quotes.

We both stop walking due to the fact that we had both arrived at the training arena.

"Think about my words, Di Angelo," Leo says simply, walking away and leaving me alone to enter solo.

I enter, taking in the heavy scent of sweat and blood. I crane my neck to see the current people occupying the middle of the space, fighting. A girl with glossy, black hair is beating the ambrosia out of some poor guy at least twice as tall and muscular as her. He stops trying, already resigning to the female's dominance and skill. She quickly finishes him off with her imperial gold dagger. The male staggers to his feet and walks far away from the female, sitting down. The female takes off her head armor and looks at a spot in the room very close to me.

"Of course…" I mutter. Who other than Reyna would be fighting when I happen to enter the arena?

Her eyes come in contact with mine before they quickly shift away to the others, "Who wants to be my next opponent?"

Everyone else backs out of near distance of her and looks away. I'm about to do the same thing when I feel someone push me forward. Before I can collect myself, I stumble a little too far. A series of thoughts run through my head; _I've just been unwillingly volunteered and I'm going to have to battle with Reyna… I don't want to die young…_

Reyna's eyes slightly widen before she sharply looks me over. Usually guys are the ones to check out girls, but her gaze intrusively rakes my body. I try to calm myself and not get aroused. Ever since this puberty thing, a lot more than Mythomagic has been on my mind.

She slightly raises her eyebrows before heading back to her fighting position, waiting for me to get ready. I stand completely still for a moment, still in a daze. _I'm going to have to fight Reyna!_

She put her hands on her hips, waiting for me to join her. I look at her armor, and sigh. I didn't think I would need any of my own, so I hadn't brought any. I unsheathe my Stygian iron sword and roll it around in my grip. It usually feels like it's made for me, but right now it felt limp and… uncooperative.

Reyna's eyes rake over my sword. I allow myself to feel a little pride; Stygian swords would only work for me and other kids of Hades.

I slowly walk in front of her and take a less technical fighting position. She sees that I have no armor on and decides to make it a little fairer; Reyna tosses her metal protection to the ground. I look around; everyone looks miffed at the miniscule act of something rather close to kindness. I shake it off, categorizing it as pity.

I don't move, not wanting to make the first move. Reyna narrows her eyes in annoyance and lunges toward me, her dagger outstretched in her palm. The sharp, golden blade slices through the air, less than an inch away from me before I sidestep the attack.

My hands seem to have a mind of their own as they swing my blade dangerously close to her shoulder. She deflects the blow just when it's about to come in contact with her skin.

We both stand for a moment sizing each other up. We can't just dive in or else we'll be here for days. We need to see our weaknesses and try to take advantage of them in the fullest way possible.

I take the opportunity to shadow travel and appear behind her. My blade is so close to the flesh on her neck and right when I could blow… I freeze, unable to move or think. My breathing stops altogether and I just stand there, feeling as if I'm not occupying any space and as if I'm not there.

By the time I can bring myself to mental stability, Reyna sharply twirls around and forcefully bangs her dagger into my sword. The hit is so hard my sword slips from my grasp and tumbles at least 10 feet away from me.

The fall of my weapon seems to move in slow motion. I silently pray to Hades that it lands sticking into the ground. If it does, I'll be able to summon my skeleton soldiers. I find the position of the sword and silently curse. It lands horizontally, lying dormant on the ground.

Reyna stops, knowing she's won and can physically damage me any way she pleases. I close my eyes, expecting to black out any moment. But it never comes. I only hear the sound of metal hitting the floor.

I open my eyes. There lays Reyna's dagger on the floor, lying parallel to mine. My eyes shift to the audience to find that they've disappeared. Either from the repetition of Reyna's winning streak or continuation of this battle.

Right now, I think I'm witnessing history. I just can't grasp this in my mind. Reyna giving up?

My thinking is interrupted by a smaller, slim frame bumping into mine and sprawling both of us onto the floor. Reyna's resorting to the last fighting technique in the book; good ole fist fighting.

Her bawled up hand is rapidly approaching my cheek. Much to my surprise, my own hand captures her fist in mine; it's now leaving hers unable to move.

Her eyebrows furrow in exasperation and she tries doing the same with the other hand. The same results meet her and I suddenly realize the position we're in.

We're flush against each other, lying on the floor. Her face is immeasurably close to mine and none of her arms are free.

I feel her shift our position and feel a massive stab of pain. She just kneed me where I guy should never be kneed.

I groan in pain and make eye contact with her. She's doing her specialty, unreadable expression. I release her arms and she quickly gets up. I take my free hands and discretely snake my hands downward, still in agony. After brushing herself off, she retrieves her dagger and tucks it into a hidden compartment in her praetor attire.

She turns and faces me, adorning a slightly triumphant guise. Her hands are on her hips, "It wasn't a very smart move to voluntarily fight me, was it?"

My hands are still clutching my painful area and I'm still in a daze at the fact that she kneed me. "I was pushed forward," I manage to choke out.

"Then let it be a lesson for future references."

I nod, not sure if I'll be able to form coherent words. I take a shot at it anyway, "Believe me. I think I've learned my lesson."

She slightly smirks as a response and turns towards the exit. She briskly walks up to it and stops just before she fully exits.

"By the way, you should really not keep your hands there in the presence of females. It's rather crude," she states simply, before rushing through the door before I can respond with a comback.


End file.
